ANTON POLYAKOV & ANNA GALATONOVA / MAHALA

Dima is walking across the corn field to weed his vegetable patch. Young people in the countryside are involved in the household from an early age, and they work as hard as adults. Dima grew up in the Hristovaia village, mainly in care of his grandparents. His parents work outside Transnistria. This is a fairly typical example of labor migration and depopulation of rural areas for Transnistria. At present, Dima also left his native village to work in Moscow.

Anton Polyakov & Anna Galatonova

Photographers Anton Polyakov & Anna Galatonova (both born in 1990) are among the first generation who identify themselves as “Transnistrians”. Their date of birth coincides with the date of establishment of the Republic of Transnistria, a small country between Moldova and Ukraine, that isn’t recognized anywhere. They both graduated from the Transnistrian State University, Anton – studied Geography, Anna – journalism. Currently photographers are interested in the topic of historical and cultural memory in the region in which they reside, as well as younger generation of people who were born in the unrecognized republics after the collapse of the Soviet Union: the question of their personal identification, the influence of the uncertain status of the country and what they face in their daily lives.